14-Day E-book Writing Challenge - Starts January 18th!

Discussion in 'Copywriting' started by jhmattern, Jan 3, 2008.

  1. #1
    I was asked by one of my blog readers last month to issue challenges to writers in the new year. The specific challenge she was interested in was e-book publishing.

    In light of that e-books are my focus this month over at All Freelance Writing. So along with the typical good stuff like freelance writing jobs, tips on being a successful freelance writer, and weekly features of what's going on with other freelance writing bloggers, you can now find daily posts related to e-book writing.

    There will be a 14-day e-book writing challenge beginning on January 18th, and going through the end of the month. If you're interested in writing an e-book, I encourage you to get involved and take advantage of the support from other writers taking part (myself included with a new e-book).

    Until that time, I'm publishing articles on e-book writing and publishing to help get people motivated, and to let new e-book writers learn a bit more about the processes of e-book writing, publishing, and marketing.

    You can find a running list of the articles on e-book writing on the blog.
     
    jhmattern, Jan 3, 2008 IP
  2. andyjames28

    andyjames28 Banned

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    #2
    sounds cool will have to check it out, have been meaning to test out writing an ebook for a while now
     
    andyjames28, Jan 3, 2008 IP
  3. WriterMLH

    WriterMLH Peon

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    #3
    I am excited! I am going to give it a shot. :)
     
    WriterMLH, Jan 4, 2008 IP
  4. Kusu

    Kusu Peon

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    #4
    thats a great news for this year. I will be waiting to write one such e-book.waiting for more details
     
    Kusu, Jan 5, 2008 IP
  5. eragonies

    eragonies Peon

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    #5
    wow..that's great idea!

    I only have write ebooks in my first language only but now I love to try write an ebook in English version too. I think it is a gud start to be a writer. :D
     
    eragonies, Jan 5, 2008 IP
  6. jhmattern

    jhmattern Illustrious Member

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    #6
    I'm glad to see some interest here, and I hope you'll all join in over there starting on the 18th. :) I won't be posting updates here during the challenge. It's all taking place on the freelance writing blog.

    If you're completely new to e-book writing, and you'd like to catch up a bit before the challenge, I'm spending the first half of the month publishing articles on the blog about e-book writing, publishing, distribution, and marketing. :) You can get the list of posts (which I'll update daily) on the official 14-Day E-book Writing Challenge post (which just went up today). :)
     
    jhmattern, Jan 8, 2008 IP
  7. webgal

    webgal Peon

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    #7
    I'm game. I signed up. I've been working on one since June. Just finished rewrites and adding some examples after the reviewers got back with me.

    It is being proofed this week. It is in exe because it's a eTutorial actually. I needed a static frameset menu with particular capabilities. But you don't have to download a viewer. It comes with the package and it presents the tutorial the way I intended. It took over two months of product testing to isolate one that would let me do what I wanted.

    I do, however, need to figure out how to do it in pdf for the mac platform once it has been proofed. So since the challenge will probably involve people who are using Adobe Professional for compiling (I just bought 8), I decided it would be a good move to get involved.

    Great idea Jennifer. It can be a lonely project with no buddies.
     
    webgal, Jan 8, 2008 IP
  8. shkad14

    shkad14 Well-Known Member

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    #8
    Can you update this thread on the 18th so we dont forget? Sounds like a great opportunity to learn!
     
    shkad14, Jan 8, 2008 IP
  9. jhmattern

    jhmattern Illustrious Member

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    #9
    Yes, I can do that... I just don't want people in the challenge ending up posting here (instead of on the blog to help support other non-DP members as well), so I won't be posting progress reports and such. But an announcement I'm fine with. :) A good idea is to go sign up for the RSS feed either in your favorite reader or via email on the blog, so you don't miss any of the pre-challenge articles on E-book writing. ;)
     
    jhmattern, Jan 8, 2008 IP
  10. eFYI

    eFYI Peon

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    #10
    This is exciting JH I'm signing up now. It is always easier to stay on task when you have buddies or a task master.

    Thanks
     
    eFYI, Jan 8, 2008 IP
  11. Soccerplayur012

    Soccerplayur012 Peon

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    #11
    I'm more focusing on writing an entire book, but I'll have a look ;] Maybe I'll "pop" out a few more.
     
    Soccerplayur012, Jan 8, 2008 IP
  12. jhmattern

    jhmattern Illustrious Member

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    #12
    Quite a few e-books are just as long as "entire books," and many books have both print and electronic versions these days. So it definitely won't hurt to give it a go. :)
     
    jhmattern, Jan 8, 2008 IP
  13. Soccerplayur012

    Soccerplayur012 Peon

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    #13
    I doubt it'd make sales, this is more for personal pleasure than anything else.

    But, hey, who knows!
     
    Soccerplayur012, Jan 8, 2008 IP
  14. marketjunction

    marketjunction Well-Known Member

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    #14
    Bah. I'm going to be so darn busy when this is going on.

    I may still try to sneak over.
     
    marketjunction, Jan 11, 2008 IP
  15. fasttrack

    fasttrack Banned

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    #15
    I don't think that a good ebook can be written in 14 days, the only reason that I could see this happening is if you had at least three plus hours a day specifically for this.
     
    fasttrack, Jan 11, 2008 IP
  16. jhmattern

    jhmattern Illustrious Member

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    #16
    I really have to disagree. I wrote my first e-book in just 5 hours. It's not the best thing out there, and it's short, but that's the point... there's nothing saying e-books have to be long. Too many people let that misconception stop them from trying to write one.

    I'm an expert in my niche. People specially requested that I offer an e-book on press release writing. So I took a few hours out of a boring Saturday, and gave them what they asked for. If you know your topic like I do, it's very easy to sit down and write about it. The only e-books I could see being automatically lousy with just 5 hours are ones thrown together with PLR articles. The time spent doesn't reflect on the quality. If someone who knew nothing about my subject matter spent 20 hours writing a similar e-book to mine (because they had to research and regurgitate the information they dug up), would that automatically make it better than mine because it took longer to write? By your judgment there it would. In reality though, it probably still wouldn't compare. ;)
     
    jhmattern, Jan 11, 2008 IP
  17. marketjunction

    marketjunction Well-Known Member

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    #17
    Well, you just said it can't be done then you said it can if you had three hours a day. ;)

    You hit the nail on the head though. Time.

    For those of us with multiple hours each to devote, writing an e-book is certainly possible.

    And as Jenn touched on, knowledge is another key ingredient. The less you know about the subject, the more time you will need.

    And the last thing is depth. The deeper you go, the longer it takes.
     
    marketjunction, Jan 11, 2008 IP
  18. Oosha

    Oosha Well-Known Member

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    #18
    Sounds good Jenn!

    This comes at a time when I've quit my job, to be able to devote all my time to writing and IM.
    I have a great idea for an ebook in the health niche.
     
    Oosha, Jan 12, 2008 IP
  19. webgal

    webgal Peon

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    #19
    I think if you focus on something small, you can do it in 14 days. I think the idea is to jumpstart people in the right direction. Mine has taken a long time but I chose a subject that was very involved. I don't think it's a bad idea to start small to inspire yourself to take it a step further next time.
     
    webgal, Jan 12, 2008 IP
  20. godofwriting

    godofwriting Banned

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    #20
    Although I'm not sure I'm going to participate, being far too lazy, I can easily tell that it's very easy to author a short ebook in two weeks or less if only you have the required knowledge at your fingertips. In fact, I can't imagine how it would take a dedicated and experienced writer any longer than a week to write a 5000-10,000-word book if they have a decent amount of time to spare each day. I've ghostwritten eBay guides, domain-profiting reports etc. in less than two days (each) and my buyers have sold them with a lot of success. Not my intention to toot my own horn here (me being totally awesome and all); I just wanted to tell people it's more than possible.

    Good luck people.
     
    godofwriting, Jan 13, 2008 IP